Archive for the ‘African Americans’ Category

Blogging can be a huge waste of time if nobody reads your stuff. It’s the modern version of the adage in my community that goes “If you want to hide something from a “blank” put it in a book.” After I have moved on to selling aluminum roofing in Thomasville, someone might discover these 700 some odd blog post like the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Bedouin shepherds discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946 in a cave in the current troubled West Bank area between Israel and Jordan. People read blogs that include funny hooks so consider Damon Wayans knowledge deep prisoner character Oswald Bates from In Living Color. “So, my dear brother, the Dead Sea Scrolls were like some missing extra parts of religious text found…follow this…between Is Real because we need what is real and Jordan because our community spends too much money on Jordan sneakers that don’t take us anywhere but to the poor house.”

President-Elect Trump entering the White House was foretold by some of us in and around the political arena for decades but nobody would listen. To me, it started when public policy stop being designed by political scientists and the people and became crafted by Madison Avenue marketing experts. Dr. Frank Luntz has a PhD in polly sci from Penn but he is the consultant/pollster who created the art of running focus groups to gauge the public and designing a few talking points that hit like bullet points. In the 90s, he was the mastermind Newt Gingrich use to create the Contract With America.

Project Logic GA as a blog is like the Dead Sea Scrolls but rather than putting flashdrives in Mason jars and placing them in Georgia red clay next to the Flint River, these smart ideas might die in cyberspace with the plans of Michael Steele, Jon Huntsman, and Elizabeth Warren. In those cyber Mason jars, scholars might one day find the “Dead, See Trolls.”

The Dem Party is dead…trolls, see what your mistakes have done.

Yes, there are those who sought hard to save this republic with logic and positive developments. Public policy should start with helping the people understand the limited role of government in their lives—balance to between compassion for the needy and a desire to end poverty. On his best days, Speaker Newt Gingrich would explain that America should be the land of equal opportunity for all…with emphasis being placed on opportunity. If every kid has a fair shot at success, we have it right. However, if said kid squanders those opportunities by not focusing on development, being lazy or committing crimes, he gets to live in the reality he created. We are usually our own worst enemies.

Mr. Trump becoming president started when campaign experts learn to tell the people what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to hear. Republicans wanted to hear in the 1990s that they were the chosen ruling class who could make decisions affecting everyone without input from anyone else. For example, the 1990s Crime Bill cost billions but crime kept growing—who got paid, their friends who owned prisons. Since LBJ’s effort to end poverty the Democrats wanted to be the party that poured more money into efforts to help the needy. However, some of that money should have been spent encouraging the future generations to not be “the needy.”

It’s rough when a kid never had a chance because plans for success never came their way. Actually, the life portrayed by the Cosby Show did so much for some in my generation and the Obamas in real life have done the same. Oh, the post White House Obamas will be so very beneficial because they can say what they really want to say to my community….hint: moderation is the key.

Could the current toxic political climate have been avoided? Of course, you should read the “Dead, See Trolls” because reasonable people like me begged to be at the table. Moderates can communicate with the Left and the Right and over the last two decades it was often Republican friends who saw the importance of crafting a new southern moderate movement. The elbow-throwing Tea Party put an end to that goodwill. The southern Democrat Party is a mess because urban liberals in Atlanta want to push a progressive agenda that doesn’t cotton well with rural conservative Blacks…we can’t win elections in cities alone…ask Hillary about that.

We tried to tell those latte-sipping liberals from Buckhead that the D.C.-designed Democrat platform was almost as alien to us as the vitriol spewed by those who hijacked the Republican Party. But, those of us who drink sweet tea and occasionally coldbeer from Mason jars in the rural Black community were ignored in November 2016…and that’s after we saved Hillary from Bernie Sanders in the primary. A rising rural star on the national stage is Rep. Tim Ryan from Youngstown, Ohio. This guy says the Democrats need people who shower before work and people who shower after work. I love it.

A troll is a mythical, cave dwelling being having an ugly appearance. I hope the trolls in the Democratic Party find these Mason jars filled with ideas because their team is dead, see. I tried to tell them that Trump was a marketing genius who was simply playing dead to win the election. I spent a year writing/crafting a “Contract With America-like” moderate action plan called the Best Interest Initiative.

The B.I.I. is all about what our community can do to help ourselves with limited government involvement. Remember, candidate Obama always said that the government often isn’t the answer…often it’s you. The B.I.I. is based on JFK’s statement “ask not what this country can do for you…ask what you can do for this country.” What you can do is start being a better you…stop being a knucklehead. Yes, I said knucklehead. We talk like that inside my community; we say that with love to those who would destroy our area for some money.

The trolls who run the Democratic Party spent a billion dollars on t.v. ads but rarely sought the existing networks of influence in our community. In other words, the rich boys got their friends richer but never hit the barbers and funeral home directors. The trolls thought they had the community because the preachers got white envelopes with Get Out The Vote Cash. Newsflash, church folks vote anyway—that’s preaching to the choir. The barbers, coaches and those “pay party tossing” kids are the ones who can move the crowd.

When Trump won that election, the Democrats and Republicans lost the White House because neither wanted him. The Black community has the numbers to sway most elections in the South. My friends and I mentioned a plan to Democrats to cultivate the Obamacrats outside Georgia’s biggest cities and they blew it off…the same likely happened in North Carolina, Florida and across the Rust Belt.

Oh, Trump was out there in the sticks. He told them what they wanted to hear—if he can or should deliver that stuff is another subject. The Dems trolls should learn from Trump that policy should be bottom up and not top down…it’s called grassroots.

To be honest, I am backing away from constantly watching CNN’s political coverage. We should spend the next few years listening to the people and teaching cultural moderation to the kids. A better DNC needs to emerge from the ashes because ignoring rural southerners will get us ghost.

I wanted to put some of my favorite blog posts in this cyber Mason jar for the trolls to find. If they wanted to talk now, I will be waiting on my front porch with sweet tea…bring white envelopes.

President Obama said, “They talk about me like a dog.” But, who are they? I am tired of hearing rough talk about this White House from Democrats eager to toss whomever under the bus to win reelection. Of course, some political observers think this plan was cooked up in the House Speaker’s office, the DNC or maybe the White House itself.

In Georgia, Rep. Jim Marshall and Governor candidate Roy Barnes aren’t mincing words about their disdain for the healthcare reform law. No Bush or Clinton would take this from inside their party; Hillary would be on their blanks. If the Democrats continue offending the base, they are toast. Recent polls indicate that losing one or both Houses of Congress is a forgone conclusion so let’s have the losing ones be those who don’t understand loyalty. And if some Republicans must be elected, we should hope they aren’t the crazy ones who are hell-bent on fear and division.

I thought a dog was man’s best friend but some of these Blue Dogs are biting the hands that feed them. In my community, we might need to take a better look at that Que dog, Morehouse Man and Libertarian running for governor, John Monds. A dog can’t stop an attacking elephant or donkey but one can make them think twice and you must admire Monds’ dedication to what he believes.

The people Democrats are trying to help are the same people who took three hours to see the movie Takers this week but they can’t take 10 minutes to early vote. Al Gore learned this the hard way and President Obama doesn’t deserve this from his party. In my corner of Georgia, the congressional Blue Dog has earned our support. Can you say the same about yours?

I am a moderate Democrat but a young conservative brother from Atlanta who works for a South Carolina GOP member of congress sent me the short documentary “Young, Black & Republican.” As a kid reading Black Enterprise magazine and watching Tony Brown’s Journal on PBS, I remember this pro-business, self-determination type African-American Republican. Hell, every striding Black family could be considered conservative because “if you wait for the government to do for you, you will be waiting awhile” was the mindset.

The 2010 election season will be wild and as twisted as a mile of bad road—brace yourself for some ugliness. The fellow in this video who loves his party’s positions but questions the tone had me saying amen to the computer. Since the best documentary series follow-up with the subjects later, we should hope that the “tone” of the Far Right doesn’t push these outstanding young people out of a major political party before Thanksgiving. (That would be similar to moderates bailing out on the Dem Team over government spending.)

Keith with Peanut Politics blog is a young conservative Democrat who thinks the Black exodus from the GOP started in the primary and that it will kick into overdrive from the campaign rhetoric this fall. They might take my Blue Dog pin for saying this but stand your ground in the red team—be logical and cool when presenting a healthier “tone” option.

This drama about the Tea Party movement and the NAACP has me thinking. Are racists at Tea Parties? Yes. Are racists at NAACP rallies? Of course. If you get a big group of people together, heaven only knows who is in the crowd. Anyone who says Blacks can’t be racists is delusional. Is that racism justifiable? Is the thug mentality more detrimental to our community than racism? I better leave that alone.

PBS’s brilliant documentary about the assassination of President Lincoln includes a photo with John Wilkes Booth in the crowd at the second inaugural. The last paragraph of that great speech reads:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

As a congressional staffer who lived blocks from the Capitol, I found myself stopping by any rally on the National Mall on Saturdays because I was compensated to serve as a conduit of information between all the people and my congressional bosses. From pro-gun to gun control, pro-choice to pro-life, treehuggers to drill in the tundra, I listened just so I could say I listened. The fetus pictures at the pro-life rallies were as rough as the concentration camp pictures at the Holocaust Museum.

The Million Man March was a historic event but without doubt there were some people in the crowd who had considered taking the fight to another level; that’s what zealots on both sides do. I like to think that positive messages from that event introduced peaceful options to them.

All of my African American friends who are conservative have attended and/or have spoken at Tea Parties. When they looked into the crowd, they were hoping that no signage when overboard. Like President Obama, I understand and respect their concerns with the size and role of government. Of course, I also have moderate African American friends who wonder if leaders of the traditional civic rights organizations are battling for equality or seeking to stay paid. That’s the thing: organizers of groups on the right, left and center often have their personal income in mind before anything– this blogger needs to get paid also. A ruckus is good for donations and the NRA guy and the Handgun Control lady could be dining together in a D.C. tony eatery…. private dining room of course.

As I say weekly, our community should be supportive of a few sensible conservatives or those really nutty folks will be running things.

In the Fall, Georgia should have a campaign visit from one or more of the Democrat Big Three: President Obama, President Bill Clinton or First Lady Michelle Obama. Where is my ticket or can I get the hook-up. The logical facility for this historic event would be the Macon Coliseum because Georgia is the biggest state this side of the Mississippi River and logistics can be a bear. My county, Worth County, is half the size of Rhode Island.

Macon would mean that Georgians could drive equal distances to the venue and the congressional districts that need a little Dem star power converge in that region (the 2nd, 8th and 12th districts.) The problem that the congressmen from the 2nd and 12th have nice relationships with the White House while Rep. Jim Marshall from Macon has chosen to go it alone.

In the early 90s, I was worked for the Democrat congressman who represented Augusta and Athens, and a visit to the district from Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary was on the schedule. A reporter asked my boss if he wanted Bill Clinton to campaign with him in Georgia and the congressman said basically he would do his own campaign. O’Leary call our office and when on about “Bill is my friend and you don’t ask me to help you and disregard my friends.”

Secretary O’Leary is currently the president of Fisk University and is saving that historically rich Black college from the brink of closure. Fisk alumni include W.E.B. DuBois, Nikki Giovanni, Congressman Alcee Hastings, James Weldon Johnson, Congressman John Lewis, Mrs. Alma Powell and Secretary O’Leary. In 2005, the financial situation at Fisk was so dire that they considered selling artwork given to the school by painter Georgia O’Keeffe. If anyone can save Fisk for future generations, O’Leary is that person.

When the White House and the DNC consider where to dispatch the big guns, Macon should be at the top of the list. If not, Rep. Marshall must have said “no thanks”—a move that hurts the entire Dem ticket in Georgia. Albany State University or Fort Valley State University would host a big three event but the Georgia Dome will likely get the nod and Rep. Marshall will not think about being on that stage. They should send Hazel O’Leary to rap with him. “Look here…let me holler at you for a second, partner….you don’t ignore Bill nor this outstanding young couple in the White House. Keep this up and you will find yourself by yourself.”

I went to the courthouse today to vote and not for actual court—which is a good thing. The Democratic primary found me voting for the incumbent congressman and was uneventful except for two races. In the U.S. Senate race, R.J. Hadley got my vote at a political forum this weekend because the guy has worked hard in this Georgia heat that is hotter than fish grease. In a minor race, I ghost voted because I didn’t know much about any of the candidates.

Michael Thurmond and Johnny Isakson are giants in Georgia politics but Hadley has a bright future in public service. On facebook, a picture of Hadley at the Democratic National Convention seemed encouraging to me. He had an optimistic look on his face as the party selected Barrack Obama and he continued that hope for better communications between all Georgians by speaking and taking questions at conservative events—that’s bold. On the voting machine, Hadley’s first name was Rakiem and old school hip hop fans know the best M.C. ever is Rakim of Eric and Rakim fame—which I took as a sign. Hadley is a leader in introducing moderate and conservative elements in the kitchen table issues debate in the Democrat Party so a nice showing in this primary is an investment in the political future. Hey, I saw the Oliver Stone movie “W” last night and Bush (like Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama) didn’t win a congressional bid but you know about later.

The Alvin Greene situation in South Carolina and Bush v. Gore in Florida tells us to take every vote seriously. The Ghost Vote technique was employed in one minor race when I wasn’t crazy about any of the candidates. Skipping that race is better than pulling an Alvin Greene. “I thought I was voting for Al Greene and ‘Let’s Stay Together’ is the number one smooth jam of all time.’”

Let’s Stay Together my foot—you can’t keep a major political party together when some candidates are allowed to play it safe by skipping major votes and major national events. R.J. Hadley is an Ivy League educated moderate Democrat who when to the DNC Convention with pride…I wish I had the coin to be there myself. Georgia has a current Democrat member of congress who is also Ivy League educated and skipped one of the most important events in history to my community.

This blog was started with one central theme: our community can’t put all of its egg in one basket. This morning the Sade classic “When Am I Going To Make A Living” came to mind because I am also “hungry but I won’t give in.”

We are at a crossroad in American politics and Black blogger Travis Johnson of Republicans United just wrote a scathing indictment on Blacks and the GOP. This brother has been down with that team for 16 years but decide no more because the mood and temperament have changed.

People and groups change over time: it’s natural. As I have written before, Travis’s now former party has ever opportunity to create a subsection of the conservative movement that speaks to fiscal soundness, personal responsibility and the limited role of government without getting ugly, divisive and incendiary. Travis, Michael Steele and others know that won’t be happening on a large scale because angry extremists rather than reasonable conservatives are commandeering their ship.

In a more baffling move, the few Republicans with histories of debate and discussions are struggling for their political lives or packing boxes—Senator McCain, Senator Bennett, former GOPer Senator Specter, and Governor Christ.

African Americans might find in early November that a party controls the Congress with zero AA members and few members with working relationships in our community. Personally, I have no problems with my current congressional representation and I have learned from his moderate tutelage. If the opportunity arises, I would help shape the agenda of congressional candidates in other southern districts because I am hungry for a chance to improve the spirit of the dialog. Blog is interesting but being in the game in a constructive manner is much better for my wallet.